


Second Chance

by crowvo



Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowvo/pseuds/crowvo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“For your tragic OTP, imagine that person A gets a chance to go back in time and change what happened to person B.” Ellis gets a chance to go back and make Nick's childhood better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chance

Ellis doesn’t try to think about the logistics of it. Some kind of dream, maybe, or magic, or aliens. Something. All he knows is this: some voice in his head is offering to let him go back in time and change Nick’s life. He’ll get to go to the exact turning point of his choice, and then he’ll get to see the effects of that decision ten years later. And then he’ll be back in his own time.

Hell, that wasn’t a hard choice to make.

Nick hadn’t talked to him much about his past, but what little he’d heard wasn’t good. It all started with his parents abandoning him. Now, Ellis wasn’t about to try and undo that–Nick’s parents were awful people if they did that. But Ellis knew that if Nick didn’t grow up on the streets, he’d have a better life. Less gang shit.

It hurt to see that truck drive off and leave Nick on the side of the road. Just a kid, but there was no mistakin’ the way that he squinted his eyes or pulled his mouth to the side. Even back then he must’ve been one hell of a sarcastic son of a bitch.

“Kid, y’all ain’t s’posed to be out this late at night.” Ellis watched Nick jump and shy away. Guess that made sense. This was the North, and it was way past midnight. Strangers talkin’ to kids was never a good thing. But Nick was scared, and Ellis thanked his lucky stars that he’d gotten to Nick before anyone else ‘cause good lord did he agree to follow Ellis way too quick.

Ellis dropped him off at the police station, advocating for everything Nick said to the police. They asked if Ellis would like to adopt Nick, and Ellis declined; it was the first time in his life that he felt the need to tell a stranger that he was gay. Back in ‘88 that made him awfully ineligible for child rearin’. He left the station, hoping that he’d done the right thing, and waited for whatever strange force had popped up to whisk him away to ten years into the future.

* * *

He almost had whiplash from how suddenly night turned to day. He wasn’t anywhere near the police station no more, neither. He was standing in line in some bakery, with a family grinning ear to ear just in front of him.

Hell, he almost didn’t recognize Nick.

Nick looked like some kinda punk rocker, except he was all smiles. The genuine kind, not at all like the pained half-smirks he’d throw their way between safe houses. 

“Hey, er, I don’t mean to be buttin’ in none, but y’all seem  _awful_  happy. One of y’all win the lottery?” Ellis kept an easygoing smile, really pouring on the Southern charm. Nick gave him a weird look for a moment, but he seemed to get over it.  _Shit, he probably recognizes me. This shirt’s kinda distinct._

To his surprise, the parents quickly started babbling on about how their son had  _just_  graduated college and was about to open up his own business. Just a coffee shop, but  _still_. And all the while Ellis couldn’t help but keep glancing over at Nick, seeing that twinkle in his eye and hearing the way he laughed along with his parents.

Made Ellis feel awfully warm inside. He  _knew_  this was the right decision.

* * *

Ellis woke up on the cold floor of the safe house with a huge grin on his face. It was still not quite morning yet, and they weren’t ready to get mobilized, obviously (Coach’s snoring was a testament to that). Ellis turned his head to look at his fellow survivors, only to feel his blood run cold.

That wasn’t Nick.

Ro’ and Coach were still there, but this weird man was nothin’ like Nick. Ellis shook Ro’ awake, urgent and barely containing his panic. “Ro’,  _shit_ , who’s that?” He pointed at the sleeping man as if he was pointin’ at Bigfoot.

“Seriously, Ellis?” Ro’ yawned and rolled over, rolling her eyes. “I know that Hunter hit Murphy pretty hard, but c’mon, he doesn’t look  _that_  different.” She sighed. “Get some sleep, Ellis. We’ve got a lot of swamp to cover still.”

He lay there, frozen in disbelief. She’d said it so plainly, as if they’d been traveling with this ‘Murphy’ for ages, as if-

Ellis sucked in a sharp breath.

Nick was a drifter. He’d been driftin’ ‘cause his ex-wife was real nasty. He’d been gamblin’ ‘cause it was his way of makin’ money since his folks left him out on the street.

He didn’t have no reason to be in Savannah.

He had no reason to even  _leave_  Jersey.

That revelation made every day after that a pure nightmare. He knew nothing about Murphy. Some weirdo. Some guy that loved his job at a gas station or somethin’. Real borin’ man. There was almost no talkin’ besides Murphy, always yappin’ away about how much everybody been jackin’ up gas prices to make a quick buck on them zombies.

Everybody was noticin’ how quiet and weird Ellis was, and Ellis didn’t care none. He had to focus on rememberin’ as much about Nick as possible. He had to  _find Nick_. Somehow.  _Good lord but the North got hit so much harder, they got hit first. He’s up there, and he ain’t no gun-wieldin’ conman now._

* * *

It was  _years_  before the infection was finally contained. Safe zones were designated, society was starting to come back. Ellis found his ma safe and sound, and Keith and Dave too. But first chance he got, he headed up to Jersey. Told his friends and his ma that he needed to get away from Savannah for a while, zombies messed him up.

He had an idea of how to  _start_  lookin’, at least. Coffee shops. But it weren’t like New Jersey was  _small_. 

So he started searchin’. He would pick through every coffee shop in a safe zone, then go lookin’ outside of the safe zone for any shops.

Each week that yielded nothing brought doubt. What if Nick went on to do somethin’ else? Hell, what if he  _left_  Jersey?

All those doubts were smashed a month into his search. He found Nick’s coffee shop, unmistakably his with the last name on the signage. Whole shop was halfway burned down, way out of the safe zone. 

His heart was hammerin’, ‘cause he expected to find Nick’s body there. It sure looked like someone had a last stand there. But Nick’s body was nowhere to be found. A relief, kind of. If Nick died, it wasn’t here.

But something made Ellis stop. A whole pile of pictures that’d been hangin’ on a wall. Pictures of Nick and his family.

His hair was all long and wavy, nothin’ at all like that slicked back look he loved so much. He was grinnin’ in every picture, too, and in almost all of ‘em he was wearin’ ripped jeans and a t-shirt. Everythin’ about him was different. Almost every picture had him standin’ next to a pretty lady, too, with three kids crawlin’ all over him.

Ellis felt numb as he looked over smiling picture after smiling picture.

He’d given Nick a better life.

But he hadn’t realized that Nick’s better life didn’t have any room for Ellis in it.


End file.
